Robert Pires conjured a smile when asked for his thoughts on the Blackburn team whose brutally physical approach had left Arsenal battered and bruised in victory. "Tres sympathique," came the reply, soaked in sarcasm. Rovers are anything but nice.

The French international was first on the team coach at the end on Saturday though his fellow goalscorer Robin van Persie delayed his departure as he tried to stem the bleeding from a swollen lip, courtesy of Andy Todd as the Dutchman wheeled away to celebrate Arsenal's third goal. Whether the arm was flung at the striker intentionally or not, it provided an appropriate end to a game punctuated by spiteful fouls. As Pires stressed, Todd epitomised Blackburn's approach: strong-arm, uncompromising and occasionally crude.

There were attempts at justification in the aftermath. "I don't think we were overly physical," said Todd, whose career has been revived under Mark Hughes this year in a side who had not lost by more than one goal for 28 games prior to this contest, illustrating new-found steel. "Various tackles do go in but Arsenal have got to learn to take it. They are a good team and we had to try to knock them out of their stride. The incident at the end was a pure accident, but when I offered my apologies to the other Arsenal players they did not want to know. If that's the attitude they want to take, fair enough.

"We've been given this 'bully' label but when you're scrapping down at the bottom of the league you can't just roll over and die. We are hard but fair, and we will just get on with it. You have to roll up your sleeves and scrap."

Rovers could not be expected to compete like for like with the Premiership champions and attempt to match the thrill of their possession football. Hughes recognised this squad's limitations on his appointment, and his achievement in dragging Blackburn from the foot has been remarkable.

However, on grand occasions such as these, the lack of a plan B was all too painfully apparent. Short of disrupting Arsenal's rhythm, they could offer little else.

"It rebounded on them because they were too obsessed with stopping us from playing and forgot to play themselves," said Arsene Wenger. His side, more than most, have a reputation for reacting to physical provocation and it was to their credit that they were not riled here, particularly given the referee Steve Dunn's lenience.

"You expect them to try to close you down and stop you playing," said the Frenchman. "Then you expect the referee to do his job."

There were a quartet of bookings for the Lancastrians - and three for Arsenal players - though no caution for David Thompson's crunching challenge on Jose Antonio Reyes, or Robbie Savage's reckless assault on Cesc Fabregas six minutes after the Welshman's introduction.

"That was a nice one on Cesc's knee and he could have reacted, but he didn't," said Freddie Ljungberg, who will undergo a scan on a thigh problem today to discover whether he will be fit to play at Chelsea on Wednesday. "Our display shows how mature our squad has become. In the past we have had some discipline problems and we have tried to work hard on that. Cesc is a young player and already he has learned not to retaliate. The way we play we get kicked a lot and it does get frustrating. But it's important not to react.

"It's important for us to reach the final especially as people have been saying our season has been a bit of a disaster. We've got Chelsea on Wednesday and we have a good chance of beating them. Eleven points is a big gap but we'll be professional. We'll focus on that now and try to get close to them. We are determined to at least clinch that second place in the league."